Vacationland

Maine native Corbett good-naturedly jests about that state's citizens, lore and rustic quaintness in this droll, episodic tale. The protagonist is glib Chick Devine, impresario extraordinaire and owner of the Fun O'Rama, a carnival boasting ""Moe Havana and His Simian Sidemen,'' plus exotic dancer Princess Sachem. Chick's troupe settles in the fictitious backwater of Abenaki County, which has one broken streetlight, 60 auto body shops, a vacant industrial park and Red's Gas-N-Go. Once ensconced, Chick befriends numerous local yokels including smelt-eating champion Armand ``Flash'' Paradise, and Professor H. Leopold Berlitz, the renowned baldness expert who helps him concoct a musical comedy based on Benedict Arnold's march through Maine to Quebec. Fun O'Rama's 100-pound lobster dies unexpectedly, but Chick rallies to mastermind the Maine Event, an exhibition epitomizing authentic Maine life, which features factory outlets, a trailer park and a paved village green. Even those unfamiliar with rural New England will relish this author's homespun humor and his cavalcade of engaging, colorful characters. (August 1)